Alea Turnabout Est
by Sith Droideka
Summary: A murder in Kurain Village, blackmail, intrigue, Maria returns, and so does a detective who should be dead.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: I am so, so sorry it took this long to upload the next Janaverse fic. Also, the first half of this was written like six months ago, haha... ha... but at least I have real beta reader now. Which would be the guy who teeechnically owns this account even though I've probably posted more fics on it than he has.**

 **Anyway, here it is. No time-travel in this one, but it's still moving the overall plot forward. :3**

* * *

 _Crap, crap, crap_ , he thought, crashing through the sparse undergrowth. _How did I get myself into this mess?_

He cried out sharply as his foot collided with a low fence and he skidded across the gravel. _Where am I now?_ he thought dazedly, covering his mouth with one hand. Better keep quiet, or she would find him…

The bushes he had just thrown himself rustled behind him. He craned his neck, slowly and fearfully - his instincts were screaming at him to jump up and keep running until he was at the train tracks, but his lungs and legs and feet were screaming at him to give his body a break.

"Mr. Willems?"

His heart leapt up into his throat. It was her. It was _her_.

"Mr. Willems, are you alright? Here, let me help you up-"

If his heart was in his throat, that would certainly explain the pulsing as his blood sprayed out of it.

* * *

 _March 2, 9:30 AM, Wright Anything Agency_

"What is that, Maya Valerie?"

Maya Valerie Wright turned another page, and looked up at her best friend and pseudo-cousin, Jana von Karma-Gavin. "It's a book of obscure English words I found. Most of them are actually French or Latin phrases, though."

"Hmm," Jana said, sitting next to her and attempting to read over her shoulder. "I suppose Uncle Miles must have bought it."

"Yeah, probably." Maya Valerie pointed at the word 'acherontic'. "This one is my favorite on so far - 'dark, gloomy, forbidding'."

Jana pointed at the word 'aceldama', a little further up the page. "'Field of bloodshed'; that could be a crime scene."

Maya Valerie pointed at the word _acediast: one afflicted with apathy or boredom_. "That sounds like Daddy."

"Which one?"

Instead of answering, she flipped through a few pages and showed Jana _argumentum ad captandum vulgus: to argue by courting the crowd emotionally, even if using unsound reason_. "And _that_ sounds like _Daddy_."

"The other one, I assume."

The other one walked over, carrying the phone with his free hand over the receiver. "What are you two up to?"

"Indulging in our logolepsy," Maya Valerie said. Jana took the book and flipped to the L's; apparently they were indulging in their fascination and/or obsession with words.

Wright blinked. "O-kay," he said, "Jana, how do you feel about going up to Kurain Village for a case again?"

Jana wrinkled her nose. "Did one of Pearl Fey's children get arrested again?"

"…well, yes, but-"

"Is Jana going up to Kurain Village?" Wright's older daughter, Misty, poked her head into the room. "She needs someone to go with her, right? Since Maria's not here…"

"Actually, Maria said that she will meet me at the detention center whenever I go next," Jana said, "apparently she is fit to go back to work now."

"That's good," Wright said, blinking, "so are you going to tell her you're going up to Kurain Village?" He paused just long enough to take a breath and added, "you know she'd _really_ like that."

Jana rolled her eyes. "What exactly is the case?"

"Well," Wright said, "some drifter happened to come to town - you'll have to ask one of the Feys more about that, all I remember is that Maya was whining about him a few days ago - and Pearls' daughter Eupraxia was accused of slitting his throat."

"So… Eupraxia jugulated him?" Maya Valerie said, taking the book back from Jana with a sugary smile as butterflies fluttered around her head.

"…what?"

"Although if Aunt Maya was complaining about him, then I suppose Eupraxia committed hereticide."

"No, no, I need to prove that Eupraxia Fey did not do it," Jana said, pulling out her phone to text Maria.

"Maybe the _real_ killer has dacnomania…" Maya Valerie said as Wright took away the obscure words book.

"We are not going down this route," he said firmly.

"Smellfungus," Maya Valerie muttered under her breath. Wright gave her an 'I don't know what exactly that means but you had better toe the line this instant, young lady, or you're grounded' look and turned back to the phone.

"So I guess this means I'm taking you up to Kurain," Misty said.

"Please," Jana said, "I am fifteen years old. I can use the train by myself. And Maria is most likely going to be with me anyway."

"What's that?" Misty said, holding a hand up to her ear, "'One teenaged girl shouldn't be on the Metrolink by herself, but _two_ teenaged girls is totally fine'? Oh, I totally agree! I'll go get my purse."

"She could be a little more subtle about wanting to go to Kurain," Maya Valerie said sweetly.

* * *

 _March 2, 10:00 AM, Detention Center_

If Jana were the hugging type, this would be a good situation for a hug. However, Jana was not the hugging type, and Maria Fey-Armando knew it - and honestly, neither was Maria, all things being equal. So instead they exchanged awkward smiles.

"I heard you had quite the adventure two months ago," Maria said casually, just by way of catching up.

Jana suddenly got an awfully cagey look, and Maria raised her eyebrows. "What… did you hear, exactly?"

Maria frowned. "Just that you and your brother disappeared for a while. I don't know anything more than that, I promise." Jana's shifty expression didn't change, and she quickly turned to the detention center guard when Maria narrowed her eyes. (Of course, Maria _did_ actually know a little more than that - or she thought she did, anyway. At the very least, she knew the assignment given to her by the 'information' branch of Quetzalcoatl Law Firm. She knew Jana and her brother, Alois, were involved in _something_ and she suspected that her own brother, Miguel, had also been dragged into it. But other than that everything and everyone was on a need-to-know-basis. No need to talk about it now.)

Now Eupraxia Fey, a pear-shaped fourteen-year-old girl with dark, sleepy eyes and loose, shoulder-length bottle blonde hair, was seating herself on the other side of the bulletproof glass. She seemed remarkably calm, a commendable departure from the _last_ time Jana and Maria had to defend one of Maria's second cousins…

"Hello, Mystic Maria," Eupraxia said, "hello, Jana. I take it you're my defense."

"Of course I am," Jana said, "when it comes to your family, Uncle Wright would only send the lawyer with the highest guarantee of finding you innocent." Maria sighed audibly. It seemed like Jana would never get rid of that arrogant attitude of hers…

"That's nice," Eupraxia said with an empty smile, "but I don't know if I should be found innocent."

"What."

"Did you actually do it, Eupraxia?" Maria said. Actually, she didn't actually know what Eupraxia had allegedly done beyond the fact that it was a murder case.

"Well… not me, exactly. I don't remember what was going on at the time, though. I suppose I must have been channelling someone, who decided to kill Mr. Willems."

There was a brief pause.

Jana pulled out her phone and hit someone on speed dial. "Maya Valerie, can you ask Aunt Dahlia something for me?" she said in lieu of a greeting.

"What time exactly did the murder take place?" Maria asked Eupraxia, anticipating Jana's question.

"Around eleven o'clock last night, I believe."

"What?" Jana said, pulling her attention away from the phone for a moment, then turning back to it. "Nevermind." She hung up and looked at Maria. "Aunt Dahlia was with Maya Valerie and I around eleven o'clock last night."

"That rules out the most likely candidate for murder-via-channelling," Maria said. She suppressed a trace of amusement at the idea of Jana hanging out with Dahlia Hawthorne - Maria knew full well Jana was afraid of ghosts!

"Should you not remember channelling someone?" Jana asked Eupraxia.

"I thought it was more akin to possession, last night," Eupraxia said. "As I said, I don't remember what was going on. Perhaps I accidentally channelled someone."

"You can't really do that unless you're really powerful," Maria said flatly, "and considering you're from a branch family…"

"Oh, don't say that," Eupraxia said, her brow slightly furrowing, "we in the branch family can be just as powerful as those in the main family. For instance, you could be the next Master, if only you hadn't given up your training and Mairwen didn't exist…"

"This is not about Maria," Jana said, with a slightly disturbed/distrustful expression.

"No, it's not. And anyway, she's right about me," Eupraxia said, "my powers are fairly middling. Perhaps I really _couldn't_ accidentally channel someone."

"And there's only so many beings who could have possessed you in the first place," Maria pointed out, "so for now let's focus on the possibility of a living killer who somehow took advantage of you."

"We should have started there," Jana grumbled, then said, "Eupraxia Fey, tell us everything you know about the crime."

"The victim's name was Avvakum Willems," Eupraxia said, making a thoughtful gesture, "he had been in Kurain for almost a week, a drifter… but he had quite a lot of cash for one. I've heard you can make a lot of money panhandling, but I don't know if that was what he did. Nor do I know why he was in Kurain… I don't think anyone knows, but (yawn) perhaps he told Mystic Maya. But even Mystic Maya didn't like him… he was very rude and disrespectful of our traditions. Around sunset yesterday, Mystic Maya finally got fed up with him and banished him from the village. Last time anyone saw him he was headed for the train station… well, except for the fact that my brother, Booker, found his bloody carcass in a karesansui early this morning."

"…karesansui?" Jana said.

"A rock garden," Maria explained. Jana made a little I-knew-that noise and gestured with her riding crop for Eupraxia to continue.

"I was arrested because they found me covered in blood on the other side of the karesansui."

There was another brief pause.

"Maybe Uncle Wright only gave me this case because no one else wanted to deal with it themselves," Jana muttered, "How unfair. Watson Justice should be even further down the pecking order than I am, and yet…"

"I heard that," Maria admonished. She turned back to Eupraxia and said, "do you have any idea how you got in that state?"

"Possession," she said simply.

"Any idea that actually makes _sense_ ," Jana snapped.

Eupraxia's eyes flashed. "Be careful, Jana," she said, "I'm sure that Mr. Willems was killed because he took our clan too lightly."

 _It's a good thing Jana's not easily intimidated_ , Maria thought dryly, as Jana crossed her arms, glared at Eupraxia, and said, "any _other_ ideas, Eupraxia Fey?"

"…as I said, I don't remember anything."

"In that case, we should head up to Kurain, now," Maria said.

"Anything else you would like to tell us before we go?" Jana said stiffly.

"Ah… actually, I was injured when they found me." She lifted one arm and pulled back the sleeve of her acolyte uniform to show them a smear of fresh bruises with a few bandages slapped on top. "Not terribly injured, of course… but I was. It seems that the spirit possessing me was too powerful for my abilities."

"In that case, it would have just left prematurely," Maria said, sighing, "I've never heard of someone getting bruises and cuts because their connection was weak."

"We will talk to you later," Jana said, walking out the door without even glancing over her shoulder back at Eupraxia. Maria rolled her eyes and followed her out. "What is wrong with her?" Jana asked as soon as the door shut behind them.

Maria shrugged. "I honestly don't know most of Aunt Pearly's kids very well. It seems to me like she reads too much gothic horror, though."

Jana scowled. "That, and she seems a little too preoccupied with spirit channelling."

"She does," Maria said, nodding and holding one hand up to her chin in thought, "that's pretty unusual nowadays, I think. Especially for someone as far down the line of succession as she is…"

"I am curious - how far down is she?"

Maria frowned. She was starting to get a headache. "I think twenty-one different women stand to inherit the title of Master before she does. Obviously Mairwen is first, then me - although I would never take the title, myself - then Aunt Pearly, then eighteen of her daughters… I think Eupraxia is just behind Olivia and Olivier - you know, Oliver's triplet sisters."

Jana blinked several times. "How many children does Pearl Fey have, exactly?"

"I'm… not really sure…"

* * *

 _March 2, 1:30 PM, Kurain Village_

"Are you serious, Alois? You took this case?!" Alois just stared at his affronted sister, grinning.

"Selbstverständlich, I did," he said. "Why shouldn't I?"

"Because _I_ am on this case."

"All the more reason for me to take it, kleine Schwester."

"Oh, get along, you two," Maria sighed irritably, rubbing her temples. "Also, Misty _did_ come with us on the train here and then wandered off, or did I just hallucinate that whole thing?"

"She came with us," Jana grumbled.

"…do you usually hallucinate things, Maria?" Alois asked, seemingly genuinely concerned.

"It's not an issue, nevermind," Maria said, waving him off, "why don't you show us to the crime scene?"

Alois raised his eyebrows, unsure if Maria meant that she did not, in fact, hallucinate, or that the hallucinations simply didn't bother her - regardless, as he was never really one to turn down a request (…ha) from a beautiful woman (haha?), he led his sister and her assistant to the crime scene… or at least in the general direction of the crime scene.

"It's in the rock garden behind this house," Alois said, stopping right in front of it. "Frau Detektivin Noir is already back there, cataloging it for me."

"And where can we find you when we're done?" Maria asked.

Alois smiled lightly. "Herum," he said, "I'm sure that Amaryllis will notice that I'm here soon, so just look for her." Jana rolled her eyes.

"Alright, thank you, Alois," Maria said, then pointedly nudged Jana who muttered "Thank you" as well.

"Keine Ursache," he said.

* * *

"He's still severely hemophobic, of course," Maria said with no preamble, once they were inside the house and headed towards the back. "Nothing's changed since December."

"No," Jana said firmly, "nothing has changed."

"I would've hoped that _you_ changed, at least a little."

Jana snorted. "The only lesson I learned from that trial is that if I continue to pursue victory, it will always come to me."

There was a long pause. "I think you learned the wrong lesson, Jana."

"Perhaps. But Alois is not in prison and you are not in the hospital, and Clay Justice _is_." She felt the corner of her mouth twitch unconsciously. "An almost perfect victory."

Maria laughed. "Interesting that you count my recovery as part of 'your' victory."

"It was _our_ victory," Jana corrected her.

There was another long pause, and Jana internally cringed and externally blushed. That was _such_ a lame line. Jana was supposed to be the cool professional riding crop-wielding beauty, not… that! And what was worse, Maria seemed to be dwelling on that comment instead of just dismissing it.

"And I suppose it wasn't a _perfect_ victory because there were too many questions left unanswered?" Maria said abruptly, her voice slightly low.

Jana opened her mouth, about to excuse her slip of the tongue with the fact that Clay Justice was in Los Angeles Central Hospital's psychiatric ward instead of a maximum-security prison, but then closed it again. Was this turning into the sort of conversation where every phrase was supposed to have a second meaning? That was _Alois'_ forte, not hers. She kept her mouth shut.

When they arrived at the aceldama, the first thing Jana noticed was that Detective Noir was arguing with another… woman? or maybe a very pretty man.

"Ah, close your head, you abercrombie frog."

"Mais, I won't get in ya way. Il n'y a pas besoin d'be so rude."

"Sing or scram, shamus."

"J'ai pas some'un to 'sing' about, mam'zelle. I'm just here to… observer."

"Is that so? Blobber?"

The second thing that Jana noticed was that the woman(?) Detective Noir was arguing with was former LAPD detective, Airey Verkhovensky, who had died over a year ago. Jana was sure of it. The thin, bespectacled androgyne with short dark hair and pale skin (although now she was wearing a loose black turtleneck and ripped jeans instead of her then-characteristic purple overcoat, and her hair was much more _burgundy_ now) had been the victim of her very first case.

"What?" Jana said out loud.

Both the detectives turned to Jana and Maria. Detective Noir pulled a very impressive 'I know, it's _her_ ,' face, and Detective Verkhovensky grinned widely and strode towards Jana and Maria, hand held boisterously out.

"Bonjour, ça va? I believen't we've met?" she said in a light voice with a heavy French accent.

Jana looked back to Detective Noir, who shrugged in irritation, then glanced at Maria, who was looking impassively at Detective Verkhovensky. Maybe she didn't know…?

Left hanging, Detective Verkhovensky dropped her hand, but not her smile. "Y'all must be the little Mam'zelle L'avocat and son assistante charmante. I call myself Anna Grantaire; I'm an investigatrice privée, working for QLF's information-"

"I work there too," Maria interrupted.

Investigatrice(?) Verkhovensky/Grantaire blinked. "Ooh là là. I thought that you had a familiar air."

"So do you," Jana said, leaning away from her slightly. "Also… you are a _what_ , again?"

"A meddling spook," Detective Noir said.

 _That does_ not _explain it_ , Jana thought exasperatedly, but kept her glare directed towards Detective(?) Verkhovensky/Grantaire. "Are you… related to that police detective that died last January?"

She blinked again. It didn't look as though she had a whole lot going on upstairs, although Jana really didn't trust that impression. "Who, Airey? Elle n'était quoi my cousin, who happened to look a lot like me… about her death, c'est dommage."

 _I only understood about half of that_ , Jana despaired. This case was already going to be hard enough with Detective _Noir's_ crazy-talk.

And the fact that another person from QLF's shady information division was hanging around her and Alois.

Shaking herself of the thought, Jana pointedly ignored Detective Grantaire and turned to Detective Noir. "Does this case have anything to do with QLF?"

"Nada, little broad," Detective Noir said, rolling her eyes. "we've been trying to crab it ever since this fakeloo artist first showed up and started making lines, but it's been a trip for biscuits."

"She's not making lines," Maria said, "she really does work for QLF."

"And QLF has squat to do with this bump-off."

"En fait," Detective Grantaire awkwardly cut into the conversation, "the victim had certain… relations with QLF. Chuis ici to follow up on these relations."

Detective Noir gave her an extremely irritated look. "In that case, dolly, spew your guts."

"Non, c'est classified."

"Do you _want_ your elbows checked?"

"I'll keep y'all feuks on a need-to-know basis, mam'zelle."

"Maria, can we just go investigate the crime scene now?" Jana said impatiently. She was going to take the vague comment about Willems having a connection to QLF to mean that Detective Grantaire had nothing to do with _her_ or Alois or that business with Watson Justice and time travel and everything else. She could focus on a case for the first time in what felt like forever.

"Yes, and let's ask Detective Noir for more information _after_ she deals with Grantaire," Maria sighed.

Avvakum Willems was a tall, attractively scruffy man with kinky brown hair and an olive skin tone. He was face down on the ground about a meter away from the low fence that outlined the zen garden; a wide skid was cut into the gravel, where he must have fallen and been carried by his momentum. The cut on his throat was deep enough that it was visible even from where Jana was crouching next to his body, and his blood not only pooled around his head, but shot about 45 centimeters away from it, too. Looking around, Jana saw that a bloody hand-knife had been tossed a bit away from Willems. _Most likely the murder weapon_ , she thought. She also noted that Willems was dressed warmly - not really unusual at this time of year (especially up in Kurain, brr) although she supposed it could indicate that he had indeed been attacked after leaving Fey Manor for good.

"I think this is where they found Eupraxia," Maria called from the other end of the crime scene, pointing at a disturbed spot in the gravel. It was almost dead center of the garden.

Jana looked around. The pebbles had clearly, at some point, been carefully raked into ripple patterns, but now there were little depressions lined up everywhere. "Which set of footprints belong to Eupraxia Fey?" she wondered out loud.

"None of them," Detective Noir said, abandoning Detective Grantaire and walking over. "Those were all made by flatties giving this dump the up-and-down." She pulled a photograph out of her trenchcoat and handed it to Jana. "We had one of they Feys take this before the croakers arrived." It was the crime scene, minus any tracks - apart from the corpse and Eupraxia herself, the gravel was still perfectly groomed.

"Huh," Jana said, carefully looking over the picture and then turning around to scrutinize the garden again. How did Eupraxia end up in the middle of it without leaving any marks? It was too far to jump, and there wasn't anything above it that she could have fallen from.

"Let me see that," Maria said, taking the photo from Jana and looking at them herself. "Detective Noir, do you have any theories as to how she managed this?"

"We're working on it," she said, crossing her arms. "We've got a rake - for prettying up this racket, I mean - that we think might be pretty hinky. I'll put you wise if anything else comes up."

"Thank… you?" Jana said, adding the photograph to her court record. "Is your theory that Eupraxia Fey used the rake to remove her footprints?"

"On the nose, little twist."

 _Whatever that means_ , Jana thought.

"Was she found with the rake?" Maria asked.

Detective Noir was silent for a moment. "No," she said at length. "It was a pretty clean sneak."

"Other than the fact that she was still at the crime scene."

"But," Detective Noir held up one finger, "the rake was found within throwing distance of that dolly." She pointed at one edge of the garden, close to the house, directly across from where Eupraxia had been found.

"That is pretty far," Jana said. "Could Eupraxia Fey really throw a rake all the way over there?"

"She's on a javelin throw team."

"Oh," Jana and Maria said at the same time.

"…we should go talk to some witnesses now," Jana said, turning to Maria, "Booker Fey was the one who found the body, correct?"

"Yo," Detective Noir said, nodding.

Jana turned around to set off to go find him, then stopped, blinking. "…where did Anna Grantaire go?"

"Lammed off, hopefully," Detective Noir grumbled, "I don't need some op bumping gums in my crime scene."

* * *

 **Avvakum Willems' name comes from Avvakum Petrov and Dirk Willems, respectively. Both were burned at the stake for heresy - by the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches, respectively, in 1682 and 1569, respectively - and became revered later.  
** **Eupraxia is a Greek name meaning "good conduct".**

 **Translations (actually I do speak French), and no, I am not 'translating' Detective Noir's dialogue because it's SUPPOSED to be obfuscating:  
** **Selbstverständlich, (DE) Of course,  
** **kleine Schwester (DE) little sister  
** **Frau Detektivin (DE) Detective** _ **literally, Ms./Mrs. Detective  
**_ **Herum (DE) Around  
** **Keine Ursache (DE) No problem  
** **Mais, (FR) But,  
** **Il n'y a pas besoin d' (FR) There's no reason to  
** **J'ai pas some'un (FR) I don't have someone** _ **"some'un" is a combination between "someone" and "quelque'un" (someone)  
**_ **mam'zelle (FR) miss** _ **a shortening of "mademoiselle", which is used towards young women  
**_ **observer (FR) to observe  
** **Bonjour, ça va? (FR) Good day, how are you?/Hello, what's up?  
** **Mam'zelle L'avocat (FR) Miss Lawyer  
** **son assistante charmante (FR) her charming assistant  
** **investigatrice privée (FR) private investigator  
** **Ooh là là. (FR)** _ **an exclamation of surprised dismay  
**_ **Elle n'était quoi (FR) She was just  
** **c'est dommage (FR) it's a pity** _ **typically used ironically or insincerely  
**_ **En fait, (FR) In fact,  
** **Chuis ici (FR) I'm here** _ **"chuis" is a shortening of "j'suis" which is a shortening of "je suis"  
**_ **Non, c'est (FR) No, it's  
** **feuks (FR) cops** _ **verlan (similar to AAVE in English) slang**_


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Daily updates? Whaaaaat? Yeah, actually, since this fic is only four chapters long and I just got the last chapter back from my beta reader...**

* * *

 _March 2, 2:00 PM, Kurain Village_

"Oliver Fey is at school in the city today, is he not?" Jana said, mostly to herself.

"Well, it _is_ Monday," Maria said. "But Amaryllis should still be here- ah, there she is. Amaryllis! Amaryllis, over here!"

The seventeen-year-old spirit channeler turned around, but didn't register any particular surprise at Jana or Maria. She walked over: "Are you two looking for Alois?"

"Not at the moment," Jana said, "we would like to talk to your brother, Booker Fey, first."

"I don't know where Booker is," Amaryllis said, "but Alois should know. I'll show you to where he is."

"You should just tell us," Maria said, coughing into her fist. "Since I'm sure he's banned you from wherever he's holed up."

Amaryllis glared coldly at Maria for a second, then shrugged. "He's in Fey Manor, talking to my mother."

"Alright, thank you," Maria said, hustling Jana off before Amaryllis could invite herself along. "I'm not sure I want to see what'll happen when Alois runs into her again…"

"Either Alois needs to get a restraining order or Amaryllis Fey needs to agree to a date," Jana commented.

They were met at Fey Manor by Maya Fey, Master of Kurain Channelling Technique and matriarch of the Fey clan - a somehow elegant lady who was as old as Jana's mother, yet had never really learned how to act her age. "Maria!" she exclaimed, immediately hugging her niece, and then ruffling Jana's hair. "Pearly shouldn't have to worry with you two on the case. How's the investigation going so far?"

"Things don't look very good for Eupraxia, honestly," Maria said, frowning.

"She thinks she was possessed," Jana added, rolling her eyes.

Maya frowned. "Oh, she's still going on about that sort of thing?"

"Does she usually?"

"I think that one doctor said that she gets really preoccupied with our spirit stuff because she gets hypnotic hallucinations about it," Maya said.

Maria raised her eyebrows. "You mean _hypnagogic_ hallucinations? Does Eupraxia have narcolepsy?"

"Yep. That's why she acts so tired all the time," Maya said, "obviously she's on medication for it, but she still sometimes does the 'sudden nap' thing, and the cataplexy seizure things."

"Wait," Jana said, crossing her arms, "this might explain how she got to the rock garden."

"It might," Maria said thoughtfully, "Aunt Maya, does Eupraxia sleepwalk?"

"No, I don't think so. Maybe she was carried out there."

"While she was asleep?" Jana said.

"Couldn't be," Maria said, "I'm pretty sure that narcoleptics are really light sleepers."

Maya shook her head. "No, once they fall asleep it's actually pretty hard to wake them up. Especially if it was one of those cases where they just randomly fall asleep while they were doing something else."

"So Eupraxia Fey may have had a narcoleptic fit, which the real killer took advantage of in order to frame her," Jana said.

"Sounds plausible to me," Maya said.

"We still need to find evidence for it," Maria reminded Jana, "but that is a good avenue of questioning to keep in mind."

"Obviously. Maya Fey, what can you tell us about Avvakum Willems?"

Maya made a face. "He was suuuuch a jerk. About a week ago, he came up here and started pretty much bumming around and sleeping on random people's couches. But he was so annoying! He didn't believe in spirit channelling at all, even when Mairwen gave him a demonstration. He kept saying it was just some kind of parlor trick…"

"Why was he even in Kurain in the first place?" Maria said.

"That's the thing - I have no idea! He just showed up! I wanted to just send him away as soon as the first dumb remark came out of his mouth, since you know how everyone here is about strangers who aren't tourists - especially after that crazy case last July - but then he was all like, 'Oh, I'm homeless, oh, I don't have anywhere to go, I'll freeze to death if you don't let me stay in your house!'" She scoffed. "It's already _March_ , and we live in California! He wasn't gonna freeze to death and even if he could have, he would have done it already. And he had so much money, too. It was so weird."

"So basically, you do not believe that he was homeless," Jana said.

"If he was homeless, then he had one heck of a support network," Maya said, "but even then, why would he come all the way up to Kurain? It's not like you can just accidentally wind up here… well, unless you're hiking, I guess, but he arrived by train."

"What he was doing before he came here is probably worth looking into," Maria mused.

"If anyone can find anything about that," Jana said.

"So anyway," Maya was saying, "yesterday was basically his last chance. I had him over for dinner with me and Mairwen, and we were both thinking, 'If he doesn't learn to accept what we do, or at least stop being so obnoxious about the fact that he doesn't believe us, then he has to leave forever.' And of course he didn't. So I told him, 'Get out of my village! Never come back here again! If you're still on Kurain property by midnight, we're calling the cops!' And then he got all up in my face and I nearly called the cops right then and there, but Mairwen channelled Andre the Giant and that kinda put an end to that."

"…he saw a twenty-year-old woman channel Andre the Giant and he still thought that it was all a parlor trick," Jana deadpanned.

"Yeah," Maya said, "so that's why I kicked him out. He got dressed - he showed up for dinner in sweatpants and a t-shirt, can you believe it? - and headed for the train station right after that. I haven't heard anything about anyone seeing him between then and when Booker found his body."

"And where is Booker?" Maria asked.

Maya put one hand up to her face in thought. "I dunno. I think your brother's going to be done talking with Pearly soon, though. He should know."

Conveniently, 'soon' actually meant 'now': Pearl Fey had walked into the room where the other two Feys (and Jana) were already standing, shortly followed by Alois, who looked vaguely smug as usual.

"Ah, we were looking for you," Maria said.

"Wirklich?" Alois said, grinning. "Come to extract information on the case?"

Jana rolled her eyes. "Actually, the first thing I wanted to ask you is why that QLF detective is here. Do you know about that?"

Alois' grin dropped into a seriously irritated expression. "Ja, I know about her. She's been coming down to the Prosecutors' Office and bothering Miguel and I since about zwei Wochen ago."

Jana's eyes widened slightly. "Right after Valentine's day?"

"Ja. Und I don't know why she's _here_ _now_ , because Frau Detektivin Noir has already looked into the victim's connections - or rather complete lack of connections - with QLF." He glanced at Maria. "Speaking of Frau Detektivin Noir, she's also irgendwie looked into Frau Privatdetektivin Grantaire herself, too."

"Oh, I remember that," Maya said.

"Yeah, wasn't that when she called us and had someone channel her friend over the phone?" Pearl said, looking at Maya, "her friend, that detective who died last year…"

Alois gave Jana a significant look. "They really do look a lot alike, obwohl their personalities are completely dissimilar. But Frau Detektivin Verkhovensky is definitely dead."

"Nevermind that," Maria said, her eyebrows drawing slightly together, "Alois, what exactly has she been bothering you and Miguel about?"

He shrugged, a casual half-smile on his face. "Nothing important - she hasn't had a real conversation with me that's gone beyond just Smalltalk, and I don't think she's managed to speak to Miguel at all."

"Unsurprising," Maria said, "Miguel's been awfully… reclusive these past few weeks. Have you noticed?"

"Aber ja."

"Do you know what his problem is?"

"Nein."

Maria's eyes narrowed slightly. "Well, I'm worried about him, so if you figure it out, let me know. You can tell me anything, of course."

"I don't have anything to tell you, doch I know you're worried about him," Alois said lightly, "anyone would worry about their younger sibling."

Jana suddenly realized that Maria and Alois were having the exact sort of double-meaning-laden conversation she had been fretting about earlier, and added, "Usually I am the one worrying about _you_ , Alois."

Maria half-smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes. Jana wondered how much she knew. Internally squirming, she said to Alois, "If Detective Anna Grantaire has nothing to do with this case, can you not just kick her out? Especially if it is unclear why she is here in the first place?"

Alois shrugged, then glanced at the Feys. "Jana, about that - a word, bitte," he said, pulling her slightly to the side and switching to German. " _I think the fact that she started showing up right after Valentine's Day - and the fact that she's been apparently investigating Miguel and I - makes it pretty obvious as to what she's really here for, doesn't it?_ "

Jana frowned. " _Does QLF really need another person keeping tabs on us?_ "

" _I don't know. It doesn't seem very logical to me, but-_ " his eyes flicked towards Maria momentarily. " _It's odd. Actually, I'm not sure if she's keeping tabs on us in particular - mainly because there's no way that QLF should know that Miguel intends on shutting down this whole time travel business, yeah? …or at least keeping us out of it. But…_ "

" _Last I checked, four different people knew that Miguel knew,_ " Jana said sarcastically.

" _True… but still, she came here for this crime before I took on this case._ "

" _Maybe she did that because she thought that either you or Miguel was going to take it?_ "

" _Miguel's already on another case, and I normally don't take these kinds of cases, yeah? I took this one in particular to see what she was up to. I really do think she was here for the victim - she just wasn't here because he was related to QLF._ "

Jana's eyes widened. " _You think he had something to do with time travel?_ "

" _I don't know. Maybe. It seems likely._ "

" _And the murder itself - if it has anything to do with time travel, how are we supposed to…_ "

Alois frowned, fingering a fringe of hair. " _I don't know, Jana, I don't- well, I honestly don't think that his death itself had anything to do with time travel. But if it does… we know three different organizations that may have a vested interest in keep time travel a secret, and_ one _of them actually has someone_ trustworthy _working for them._ "

There was a brief pause. Jana glanced at the Feys, and was relieved to see that they were having a completely separate conversation about Hinamatsuri. " _You really think they have a vested interest in keeping this secret?_ "

" _…_ " Alois sighed. " _Maybe that's not the right word. But you saw how Wat reacted when Miguel made it clear that he knows as much as we do, yeah?_ "

Jana snorted and rolled her eyes. " _Come on, Alois. Yes, she reacted badly - but if that's the worst she can do…_ "

" _Even you have to admit that blackmailing someone is pretty bad._ "

" _Please,_ " she said, almost laughing, " _that was probably the most transparent bluff I've ever seen in my life! And I work with Uncle Wright!_ "

Alois blinked several times, then grimaced a little bit. " _If that was a bluff, then she hit it right on the nose. Miguel's pretty shaken - he really thinks his life is about to get ruined over this._ "

" _…what?_ " Jana said it sharply enough that both Maria and Pearl glanced at her, although Maya continued talking.

" _Actually, he hasn't_ told _me anything, but I'm his best friend, yeah? I can tell-_ " Alois started, holding his hands up in a placating gesture.

Jana shook her head. " _No, no - what on earth could_ possibly _ruin his life? This is_ Miguel Fey-Armando _we're talking about. What has he ever done wrong?_ "

" _Nothing!_ " Alois said quickly, " _he's never done anything bad or wrong or illegal, within reason. Just the usual occasional speeding or pirating old video games…_ "

" _Then what could Watson Justice blackmail him about?!_ "

Alois grimaced again. " _I, um - I couldn't really tell you, Jana. But… it wouldn't be something she could get proof of. I'm sure of that._ "

" _In that case…_ " Jana relaxed slightly, but still gave Alois a skeptical look. " _But I still don't understand how he could be freaking out about being blackmailed if he's never done anything to be blackmailed_ about _. I mean, it's 2054. You can't blackmail someone for… for being gay or something. Watson Justice could show everyone Miguel knows photographs of him dressed in drag and passed out behind a gay bar on the bad side of town, and they'd all just say, 'Well, that's his personal life, so as long as he's not taking any illegal drugs…'_ "

" _What kind of example is that…?_ _Well, it's not something like that, regardless. Whatever it is, Miguel would never tell even me about it. And anyway we don't need to know what it is - the point is that Wat seems to know, somehow, and she's holding it over his head. And all Miguel really wants to do is keep you and I out of this whole shady business. He doesn't seem to care if Wat or Ares continue with it._ " His eyes hardened. " _Now imagine what would happen if someone wanted to actively take on either the Tula Group or the Teotihuacan Foundation - maybe even QLF…_ "

Jana shuddered. " _Don't,_ " she said firmly, " _whatever Detective Anna Grantaire is looking into… I'm sure she or QLF is mistaken. I'm sure the killing had nothing to do with time travel._ "

" _Maybe Willems himself is a time traveller,_ " Alois said, raising his eyebrows.

" _Maybe he just looks like one._ "

" _Maybe Private Detective Grantaire is._ "

There was a long pause. " _She… will travel back in time to last year, only to die in a dirty alleyway?_ " Jana said slowly.

Alois nodded. " _And she'll do it intentionally. She obviously already knows about her own death, since she's constantly being asked about her late 'cousin'._ "

" _And…_ " Jana hesitated, " _when Detective Blanche Noir was looking into her… what, exactly, is her background?_ "

Alois laughed once. " _Vague. If she's a time traveller, then I think she started in a different time and came_ here _._ " He frowned slightly in thought. " _Or perhaps she's Detective Verkhovensky from a different timeline, like Misty E - or vice versa. But why would either of them come here?_ "

Jana swallowed hard. " _Well… maybe she and Detective Airey Verkhovensky will turn out to be completely different people after all._ But for now we have a murder to be working on." She said the last sentence in English, and turned back to the Feys, just in time for the baby Pearl was carrying to start crying.

"Shh, shh, Wymond," Pearl said, bouncing on her heels slightly to calm the baby. "Shh - I have to go, Mystic Maya."

"Where is Booker Fey?" Jana asked Alois as Pearl left.

"He's just down the hallway, fourth door on the left," Alois said, back to his genial, slightly smarmy cool typicality. "His ältere Schwester is with him." He turned to Maya. "Now, Frau Maya, I wanted to ask you…"

"I heard Miguel come up in the conversation several times," Maria said as she and Jana walked down the hallway. "What exactly were you two talking about?"

Jana shrugged. "Detective Anna Grantaire, but we got a little off topic," she said, figuring a half-truth was best here. "Nothing related to this investigation." _…I hope, anyway._

"Mm," Maria said as they reached the fourth door on the left. "Well, Jana, at the very least, be careful what you and Alois talk about in public. You never know who speaks German - or who might have learned it." She caught Jana's alarmed expression as she opened the door, and winked at her. "Don't worry about me - I only speak English, Spanish, and a bit of Japanese."

Jana forced herself to focus on the murder as she walked into the room. Fortunately, the shock at finding out that Booker was a _child_ helped in that regard.

"…Booker Fey?" she said uncertainly.

The little brunet looked up from his knees. "Are you 'Praxia's defense attorney?"

Jana threw a 'Please help me, I don't know how to talk to anyone more than a year younger than me' look. Maria smirked lightly and said, "Yes, we're Eupraxia's defense team. This is Jana von Karma-Gavin. She works for Mr. Nick."

The lanky eighteen-year-old with brown-blonde hair in a braid-wrapped bun standing behind Booker drummed her fingers on the table he was sitting at. "You're gonna get Eupraxia out of prison?"

"She is not _in_ prison," Jana corrected her, "she is detained. Legally she is still considered innocent."

"And it's gonna stay that way?"

"Of course it is. Who do you think I am?"

"Jana," Maria said warningly, then addressed the older sister. "I'm sorry, we just need to talk to Booker for a minute, uh…"

"Ilona. Sorry. I was only two years old when you left to live with your dad," she said, holding her hand out for Maria, then Jana, to shake. "The prosecutor boy gave me permission to stay with Booker while he's been questioned, since he's only eight."

"Only eight and a lifetime of therapy ahead of him," Jana said under her breath.

" _Jana_ ," Maria said warningly again. Jana made an irritable ' _you_ talk to him' gesture, and Maria rolled her eyes. "Alright, Booker, can you tell us about what happened this morning?"

"When I found the body?" Booker said quietly.

Ilona patted his shoulder. "Yes, Booker. Go ahead."

Booker shifted in his seat uncomfortably. "Well," he said, "when I got up this morning, I decided to go rake the gravel in that karesansui…" He went quiet again.

"Why did you decide to do that?" Jana said carefully.

"It's my chore today, so I wanted to do it before breakfast instead of after, because if I waited until later I might forget to do it."

"…would it not make more sense to do your chores at the end of the day, when no one can mess them up again?"

"Oh… I hadn't thought of-"

"Don't encourage him to procrastinate," Ilona snapped.

"That is not procrastination!" Jana protested, but Maria cut her off.

"Booker, please continue."

"So," Booker said slowly, "I went over to the karesansui, and I noticed that the rake was on the porch next to it, instead of where it was supposed to be… so I looked up at the karesansui, and I saw 'Praxia lying in the gravel… I was going to run over to her, but then I looked over at the other side of the karesansui and… I… saw…"

"That's good, Booker," Ilona said, patting him on the shoulder again, "that's enough."

"Was there anything in particular you noticed about… what you discovered?" Maria said.

Booker shook his head. "There was a crow trying to eat his eyes, but I shooed it away and ran to go get someone…"

"It is not unusual for birds to go for the eyes since they- ow!" Jana started to explain without stopping to think about it first, but Maria stepped on her foot.

"What happened when you went to get someone?" Maria asked. "Who did you get?"

"He got me," Ilona said. "I was also trying to get some chores done before breakfast, so I was nearby and I was the first person he ran into."

"I told her what I saw, and then we went to go call 911," Booker said.

Jana raised an eyebrow. If it were her, she would have wanted to follow Booker back to the karesansui and check it out, first…

Maria checked her watch. "Well," she said, "barring anything else we need to know now, it'd probably be a good idea for Jana and me to leave now."

"Oh, you want to get back to Los Angeles in time for dinner," Booker said, apparently grateful at the shift in subject.

 _That_ , Jana thought, _and Maria probably has a headache._

* * *

 **Wymond is a medieval English name meaning "battle protector"; he won't come up again. The meaning of Ilona is uncertain but it seems to be the Hungarian version of Helen. Btw, all of Pearl's kids' names this fic have been picked using the random name generator on Behind The Name, and I'm mostly going by what sounds good.**

 **Translations:  
** **Wirklich? (DE) Really?  
** **Ja, (DE) Yes,/Yeah,  
** **zwei Wochen (DE) two weeks  
** **Und (DE) And  
** **irgendwie (DE) kinda/sorta  
** **Frau Privatdetektivin (DE) Private Detective** _ **literally, Ms./Mrs. Private Detective  
**_ **obwohl (DE) although  
** **Smalltalk (DE) small talk** _ **it seems that the concept of shallow, casual conversation is so very much not a German thing that they need a loanword for it…  
**_ **Aber ja. (DE) Yes, of course.  
** **Nein. (DE) No.  
** **doch (DE) but  
** **bitte (DE) please  
** **ältere Schwester (DE) older sister  
** **Frau (DE) Ms./Mrs.** _ **used for older women**_


	3. Chapter 3

_March 3, 9:45 AM, District Court, Defendant's Lobby No. 8_

"It seems unfair that spirit channelers are held responsible for the actions of the spirits they're channelling," Eupraxia said.

"I keep telling you," Jana said, frustrated, "that is _not_ what happened and that is _certainly_ not what we are going to argue."

Maria slipped into the defendant's lobby. "That QLF detective from yesterday is in the gallery," she said, "are you concerned, Jana?"

Jana grunted. "Should I be?"

"I did actually ask Mr. Josephson about it," Maria said, referring to her (and presumably Detective Grantaire's) boss, "he told me the same thing he told Detective Noir: Avvakum Willems himself has nothing to do with QLF itself." She raised her eyebrows significantly. Jana took that to mean that it was still possible that QLF had some reason to investigate him anyway…

"I am sure that it will end up being completely irrelevant," Jana mumbled.

* * *

 _March 3, 10:00 AM, District Court, Courtroom No. 8_

"Court is now in session for the trial of Eupraxia Fey," Judge Juniper Justice said.

"The defense is ready, your Honor," Jana said. She resisted the urge to check out the gallery for herself. Stay focused on the murder, the murder that was obviously perfectly normal…

"The prosecution is ready as well, your Honor," Alois said. He seemed unruffled, as usual. It struck Jana that this was the first time they were in a courtroom together since their 'adventure' in January - no, he was just in the gallery for that, so not since Jana had defended him last December. And the last time they had gone up against each other had been… geez, late July last year? Quite a while.

"Very well," the Judge said, "Mr. Gavin, your opening statement, please."

Alois tossed his hair out of his eyes. " Late the night of the first, a murder was committed in Kurain Village. The victim was an apparent transient with little verifiable background, and was discovered in one of the karesansuis. The defendant, Eupraxia Fey, was discovered unconscious and covered in blood in the same karesansui."

"I see," said the Judge, "your first witness, then."

"The prosecution calls Detective Noir to the stand…. Witness, name and occupation."

"Blanche Noir," Detective Noir said, adjusting her fedora, "LAPD peeper."

 _Why can't she just speak normally, at least in court,_ Jana sighed, _even Alois does…_

"Please outline the crime for us, Detective."

Detective Noir nodded. "It's just as the good prosecutor spilled: someone blew down a bum in Kurain Village around eleven the other day. His pipes were knifed by this chiv here," she said, showing the bloody hand-knife from yesterday to the court. "No fingerprints on it, but we think she used her sleeve to make a clean sneak of it here."

"Hm," said the Judge, "Ms. von Karma, you may begin your cross-examination."

"Detective Blanche Noir," Jana said, "the defendant was discovered at the crime scene, unconscious."

"The defendant _claimed_ to be unconscious when found," Alois cut across, "the discoverer of the body did not see her up close."

"Why would she _pretend_ to be unconscious?" Jana fired back. "She suffers from narcolepsy. Is it not more likely that she had a fit and fell asleep?"

Alois shook his head. "The defendant is intentionally using her narcolepsy as a red herring. She's playing us all for fools. Detective?"

Detective Noir pulled out the rake. "After zotzing the gink, little miss Fey used this rake to get rid of all the footprints, threw it to the porch, and laid down an' waited for her brother to spy the stiff."

"She threw it all the way to the porch?" the Judge said, "that seems… unlikely."

"The defendant is on a javelin throw team, your Honor," Alois said, "she is more than capable of it."

"There were no fingerprints on the rake, either, were there?" Jana said.

"Nix on that," Detective Nor said, "but we think she used her sleeve as a makeshift glove for that, too."

"Hmph."

"Speaking of her glad rags, we found the chilled goose's blood all over them." Detective Noir glanced at Alois, who nodded discreetly, then she pulled out a set of acolyte robes which were indeed bloodstained - and in no small quantity, either.

"…ah."

"So, in short," Alois said, looking somewhat peaky but moving on anyway, "the defendant was found covered in the victim's blood and at the crime scene. The fact that the crime took place at night is certainly consistent with her insomniac behavior, and considering the victim was known around the village for his disrespect of the Kurain Channeling Tradition, her motive is solid."

"Does the defendant care deeply about the Kurain Channeling Tradition?" the Judge asked.

" _Very_ deeply," Alois emphasized, "in fact, we believe the reason why she would bother removing all the footprints in the karesansui is to hint at a supernatural element to this case-"

"Mr. Gavin," the Judge said sternly, "this case does _not_ have a supernatural element to it, does it?"

"Not that we've found any evidence of, no."

"Ms. von Karma?"

"None whatsoever," Jana said.

The Judge nodded. "Alright. If the defense is done with Detective Noir, then the prosecution may call its next witness."

Jana frowned, feeling as though the evidence so far were rather… flimsy.

"This is a lot like a case Aunt Maya was involved in almost forty years ago," Maria muttered to herself.

"What happened in that case?"

"I can't quite remember. I can look it up when the trial's over, though, if you can buy us another day."

"Can do," Jana said, then told the Judge, "the defense has no further questions at this time."

"The prosecution calls Booker Fey to the stand," Alois said.

Detective Noir left the stand and the bailiff placed down an orange crate, which Booker stood on top of.

"Witness, name and…" Alois trailed off, then sighed. "Tell us your name and your age, for the record, please."

"My name's Booker Fey. I'm eight years old. Eight and a half, actually."

"Oh my," said the Judge, immediately going into maternal mode, "you're so young to be a witness to a murder!"

Booker shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot. "It wasn't really the fact that he was dead that scared me," he said, almost defensively, "it was the fact that he… um…"

"Had a slit throat?" Jana said. Maria stepped on her foot. "Ouch-!"

"There's a big difference between the spirit of the deceased and the actual dead body," Maria told Booker. "it's perfectly alright to be disturbed by the latter, even if you are a Fey."

"Oh… alright…" Booker said, looking down.

"Witness," Alois started, then paused, frowning. Jana stifled a laugh. And here she thought Alois would be better at talking to children than she was! (She sobered up when she realized she still had to cross-examine an eight-year-old.)

"Booker, can you please tell us what exactly happened when you found Mr. Willem's body?" the Judge said.

Booker nodded. "Yesterday morning," he started falteringly, "I got up and went to rake the gravel in the karesansui because it was my chore that day and I wanted to get it done before breakfast… and when I got there, I saw the rake on the porch and I thought that whoever had the chore the day before didn't, um, put it away like they were supposed to, and then I looked at the karesansui and I-I saw 'Praxia lying there, and then I saw… I saw Mr. Willems."

"Such a terrible thing to see for one so young…" the Judge said.

"What did you do next?" Maria prompted.

"I went and got Ilona. We got the police."

The Judge nodded sagely. "Ms. von Karma, your cross-examination, please."

"What did Eupraxia Fey look like when you saw her?" Jana said, "was she awake?"

"No…"

"Did she have blood on her?"

"I don't remember… I think so, maybe?"

Jana frowned. "What about the rake on the porch?"

"What about it?"

"When the police found the rake," Alois said, "it was lying on the porch as though it had been thrown there. I suppose she's asking if that was the case when you found it."

"I… I guess?"

"Looks like he doesn't remember a lot of the details. I suppose that's understandable," Maria muttered. "Wait, he told us something yesterday that isn't quite consistent with his story now. Do you remember, Jana?"

Jana nodded. "Booker Fey, yesterday you told us that there was a crow trying to eat Avvakum Willems' eyes."

"Oh my," said the Judge, "how disgusting."

"Yeah," said Booker, "I saw that. I shooed it away before I went and got Ilona."

"You did so without stepping into the karesansui?" Maria said, one eyebrow raised.

Booker was quiet in though for a long time before finally saying, "I guess so."

"There weren't any footprints near the body when we arrived at the crime scene," Alois reminded the court. "When forensics arrived, the only footprints on the scene were those left by a member of the Fey family who was helping the defendant."

"Hm," Jana said. Something wasn't quite adding up here. She pressed on. "Booker Fey, what exactly happened after you and Ilona Fey called 911?"

"Um… Ilona told me to wait at the front of the house so I could show the 911 people the way when they got there, and then she went to go help out 'Praxia."

Jana narrowed her eyes. Ilona Fey was alone at the crime scene for a time?

"I know what you're thinking," Maria said out of the side of her mouth, "but what reason would _she_ have to kill Willems?"

"Does the defense have any further questions for the witness?" the Judge said.

"…no, your Honor," Jana said.

"Then he is dismissed. You may go, Booker." There was a pause as Booker left the stand and the bailiff removed the orange crate. "Mr. Gavin, do you have any further witnesses?"

"Just one for today."

The Judge nodded. "Very well, please call your final witness for today."

"The prosecution calls Maya Fey to the stand," Alois said.

Jana and Maria exchanged a glance as Maya took the stand. It hadn't occurred to either of them that she might be a witness.

"Witness, name and occupation."

"Maya Fey, Master of the Kurain Channeling Technique," she said. "Man, it seems like such a long time since I last took the stand. At least I'm only a witness this time."

"…anyway," said Alois, "witness, please describe to the court what you saw the night of the first."

 _Please don't be an eyewitness, please don't be an eyewitness, please don't be an eyewitness_ , Jana thought, staring at the witness stand.

Maya's smile slipped off her face. "Well, the night of the first," she said with a sigh, "after I kicked out Avvakum out and was getting ready to go home, I ran into Eupraxia in the hallway. She was-" she hesitated briefly- "she was holding the hand-knife and asked me where Avvakum went."

"Hmm!" said the Judge, "well, Ms. von Karma, your cross-examination, please!"

"I don't think she killed him, though," Maya insisted before Jana said anything. "I don't think _any_ of Pearly's kids would ever do something like that."

"Did she say why she was looking for Avvakum Willems?" Jana said, feeling her bottom eyelid twitch. This was bad.

"No. And I'm sure she had that knife for a totally innocent reason, too."

"But you're sure it was the same knife as used in the crime."

Maya put one hand to her face. "Maybe not the _same_ knife, but definitely the same model. But it's not like it's a really distinctive-looking knife, right?"

"None of our investigation so far has turned up an identical or even similar-looking knife anywhere on the Fey estate," Alois said.

"Oh, come on," Maya said, "just because I saw her with the knife doesn't necessarily _mean_ anything. Besides, if she was planning on killing Avvakum, why would she ask me where he was? That'd be way too obvious. If she really _had_ killed him, she'd do something to cover her tracks."

"Will the witness please stop engaging in conjecture?" the Judge said.

"Mph. Sorry, your Honor."

"What did you tell her when she asked where he went?" Jana said.

"I just told her he was probably out of the village by then and told her to go to bed."

"And did she do that?"

"Well, she just put her knife in her pocket and left. This was probably about half an hour before the murder."

"Pocket? What was she wearing at the time?"

Maya blinked. "Her pajamas, of course."

Alois recoiled. "Her _pajamas_?" he said.

"Yeah, that's what I just said."

"But she was wearing channeling robes when she was found," Jana said.

"Did she get changed at some point between when she met with the witness and the murder?" Alois said, half to himself, then frowned deeply. "No, that wouldn't make any sense. Why do that?"

"Does the prosecution have any explanation for this?" said the Judge.

"…witness, you're _sure_ she wasn't wearing her robes when you met her just before the murder?" Alois said.

"Totally positive!" Maya said.

"This is not adding up, your Honor," Jana said. "Just half an hour before the murder, my client was seen wearing completely separate clothes from what was provably worn during the murder."

"She did, however, _wear_ the clothes provably worn during the murder," Alois said, folding his arms, "regardless of what she was wearing earlier."

"She would no reason to change clothes."

"She was also seen with the weapon, and wanted to know where to find the victim. Perhaps the pajamas are a moot point at best."

"Enough," said the Judge, tapping her gavel against her bench. "It's clear to me that this case requires more investigation. We will reconvene tomorrow. In the meantime, this court is adjourned."

* * *

 _March 3, 1:48 PM, District Court, Defendant's Lobby no. 8_

"Why did you not tell us that you were running around with the knife the night of the murder?!" Jana demanded, smacking Eupraxia with her riding crop.

"Jana!"

"I didn't think it was relevant," Eupraxia said, rubbing her arm where Jana had hit her.

Maria sighed. "Eupraxia, you need to tell us _exactly_ what happened the night of the first."

She put one finger to her lip, thinking. "Well, I really didn't like Avvakum Willems, so I wanted to give him a good scare before he left. I was just going to threaten him with the knife…"

"I do not like where this is going," Jana said, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"…so I took my hand-knife I use for carving practice spears and left my room to go find him. Mystic Maya told me to go to bed, though, so I did."

"How did someone else end up with your knife, then?" Maria said.

"On the way back to my room, I had an episode of cataplexy and fell over. I guess my knife must have fallen out of my pocket then, because when I got back to my room I (yawn) didn't have it anymore… figured I would just look for it in the morning, since it was dark in the hallway."

"Alright," Jana said unhappily. This little story was pretty much impossible to prove in court. "And why were you in the karesansui?"

"I don't really remember. I think I walked there sometime after midnight. I couldn't sleep."

"…and then?"

"And then I was possessed."

Maria rolled her eyes and turned to Jana. "Assuming she hasn't forgotten to tell us anything else important, I think the most likely thing is that she discovered the body before Booker did, but had a narcoleptic episode just then and didn't wake up until the cops had already been called."

"That seems plausible to me," Jana said, "although that doesn't explain away the clothing discrepancy."

"…I need to look up some old case files at WAA," Maria said at length, "you should head up to Kurain village. If you hurry, you could probably ride up with Alois and Detective Noir."

* * *

 _March 3, 2:30 PM, Los Angeles-Kurain Village train line_

"So, where is Alois?" Jana asked after an hour and a half of playing games on her phone and pointedly ignoring Detective Noir.

"Back at the apple," Detective Noir said, not looking up from her book, a battered copy of _A Map of the World_. "He figured he didn't really _need_ to be around the scatter to get the low down. He trusts me."

"What about Detective Anna Grantaire?"

Detective Noir snorted. "Last I heard, that French flimflam was still at the clubhouse trying to get some sucker to tip their mitt."

"…o…kay…" Jana said, turning back to her phone.

"And that's the crop."

Just then Jana's phone rang. It was Maria.

"Hello?"

"Try to see if you can find the pajamas Eupraxia was actually wearing that night," Maria said without any preamble.

"Alright, but how is that supposed to-"

"I figure this case is probably a lot like the one Aunt Maya was involved in back in 2017. Most likely the killer changed her clothes after she passed out so she would be wearing the bloodstained clothes. However, that would mean that when she _did_ pass out - onto gravel, mind you - she was still wearing her pajamas."

"So you suppose they would be ripped."

"It seems likely, especially considering those bandages she had. Although we still need to figure out why and when this happened - Eupraxia didn't stumble upon the crime scene until more than an hour after the crime. At what point did the killer return to the crime scene in order to frame her?"

"I think I can come up with something," Jana said, then hung up. Detective Noir raised an eyebrow at her.

* * *

 _March 3, 3:20 PM, Los Angeles Central Hospital, Psychiatric Ward (Visitation room)_

"Maria."

"Clay."

They both stared at each other. Ares looked strange without his sunglasses, rather like something pale and squirming found when a rotted log is lifted up.

"Let's get to the point," Maria said, folding her arms and glaring impassively at him. "You and Watson have successfully pioneered time travel."

"What makes you say that?"

"The fact that the woman standing behind you, pretending to be a nurse, is quite clearly an older version of my second cousin, Misty."

The older Misty gasped. "How did you figure me out?"

"I've never met a nurse who'd ever wear high heels on the job."

Ares scrubbed a hand over his face. "Good going, E."

"It's not like she'll remember me anyway, sir," Misty E said. "And for your information, Miss Fey-Armando, I'm not really the future version of your Misty, per se, since I'm from 2051."

"So you're from an alternate timeline," Maria said flatly. "Well, I'm not terribly surprised to find that they exist, or that you can jump from one to another."

"It _is_ kind of a foregone conclusion, isn't it?" Ares said, leaning forward slightly. "That's the caveat to time travel, Maria - time always tries to correct itself, keep to the status quo. You make too many changes, you just create yet another alternate timeline."

"I take it you're not terribly interested in alternate timelines," Maria said, narrowing her eyes at the word 'caveat'.

"Mr. Ares wants to rewrite his own past," Misty E said admiringly.

Maria let out a ghost of a laugh. "Setting out to destroy Detective Skye before she can steal your father away from your mother, then? Trying to give yourself a normal, well-adjusted childhood with a dad who's around?"

"Something like that," Ares said.

"So why on _earth_ was Watson working with you when that would have completely erased her - not an alternate version of her, but she herself?"

"Well…" Ares broke eye contact, glancing to the side evasively, and settled back in his chair. "It may just happen that… as far as Watson was concerned, that wasn't my true goal."

"Then what was?"

"Are you familiar with the philosophy of ontological nihilism?"

Maria frowned. "Of course."

"I… actually, let me put this in a way that you'll feel more sympathetic towards. Do you think that there are some people with whom the world would be better off if they never existed in the first place?"

"People like Detective Skye?"

"People like myself."

Behind him, Misty E looked at the floor uncomfortably.

Ares didn't seem to notice, instead gesturing grandiosely. "I told Watson I realized that if my father left my mother for hers, then it was obvious that the 'true path' of the universe involved _her_ mother, not mine. I told her I seek to utterly destroy myself, and rewrite her past so that the strain placed on her parents' marriage by the fact that my father went to my mother _first_ … would never have existed. _She_ could have her happy childhood, and happy adulthood without me in the picture, and _I_ would have the relief of oblivion."

"Hmm." Maria gave him a critical look. "So you lied to her."

"That's the thing, Maria. I wasn't lying."

There was long, pregnant pause.

"And what's your goal now?"

Ares looked at his hands for a long time before saying, "This - all of this - is my father's fault. And - I think there's only one way to end the struggle between Watson and I. I've glimpsed our futures, and I think she has too."

"Watson Justice will stop at nothing to fulfill the future she feels has already happened," Misty E said, not even looking up.

"So maybe it's better to simply take my revenge on my father and - erase both of us from our own timelines. It's the only way we can find peace."

"Sir…"

Ares abruptly sat back up, leaning casually on his elbows and scrutinizing Maria. "Was that to your satisfaction, Sister? Everything I've said was true."

"Why are you telling me all this?" Maria said quietly.

"Because you won't remember." He snapped his fingers, and Misty E stepped out of the room. "My dear E is going to take a quick hop through a time door. The timeline will correct itself, and you'll forget everything that happened while she was in the room. That recording you've been taking on your phone will be erased as well."

Maria's lips twitched. She didn't think he'd notice that. "Then I suppose I have no reason to stay."

"Not even for a casual visit with an old friend?"

Maria stood up. "Save it," she said sharply, "I may have forgiven you for nearly _murdering_ me, but that doesn't mean I'll ever stay in the same room with you for longer than I have to ever again. Goodbye."

"…goodbye."

And as she walked out of the room, her earlier migraine recurred with a vengeance. It actually stopped in her tracks as she leaned against the wall, one shaky hand pressed against her forehead. A passing nurse - one in flats - asked her if she was alright, but she just waved them off.

She fumbled for her phone and noticed that she had nothing to show for her meeting with Ares except a corrupted audio recording. But…

Somehow, she still remembered every detail of their conversation.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Last chapter, and also the longest one yet. I will admit I could have totally cut this in half and brought this fic up to the standard five chapter count, but eh.**

 **No one faved, followed, or reviewed while this was being updated, but thank you in advance to anyone who will fav or review in the future. DO NOT FOLLOW THIS FIC AS IT IS COMPLETED AND THERE IS NO POINT TO THAT.**

 **And seriously - if you've read this far, just review...**

* * *

 _March 3, 3:35 PM, Prosecutor's Building_

Alois checked his phone. The short buzz that he'd thought was a text was actually an error message - one of his audio files had somehow gotten corrupted. He checked, and was unsurprised but still disappointed to see that it was the recording he'd taken on Valentine's Day. _I suppose that means Misty E returned to her own timeline_ , he thought, _although I'm sure she'll be back_. He wondered if the hand-written transcript of the recording he'd entrusted to Miguel was still readable.

Setting that aside, he opened the door to Blackquill's office. "Herr Blackquill? I need some advice on the case that I'm on, bitte."

Simon Blackquill, Alois' mentor, looked up from his desk. "Yes, what is it?" he said, scratching at his goatee.

"Tatsächlich, it's a bird-related question," Alois said. "If a bird is eating something, how close does one have to get in order to shoo it away?"

"What kind of bird?"

"A crow. Vielleicht a raven, I don't know how good the witness is at identifying corvids."

Blackquill tapped his temple. "It's difficult to get between a crow and its carrion. I would say that your witness would have to get very close to it in order to shoo it away."

Alois frowned. "Even if he threw something?"

"It wouldn't care. Unless he actually approached it, the crow would stay where the food is."

"Und this is certain?"

"Hmph, of course. Sounds like one of your witnesses has a contradiction in his testimony. You'd better sort that out before your sister does."

"Naturally, Herr Blackquill. Danke, that was all I needed to know," he said, bowing out of the room.

"Any time, Alois," Blackquill said. Alois shut the door behind him. He started back to his office and stepped into the elevator. His finger hovered over the '5' - where his office was, a full seven floors below Blackquill's - then he pressed the '6' instead, almost on impulse. The sixth floor was where Miguel's office was.

It took roughly half a minute for Miguel to open the door after Alois knocked.

"You look awful," Alois said by way of greeting.

Miguel looked like he hadn't had a good night's sleep in about two weeks - which he probably hadn't. Pale enough he could probably pass for full-blooded Japanese, bags under his eyes, disheveled clothing that Alois could hardly believe Chief Prosecutor Edgeworth let him get away with… the whole package deal for a man slowly losing his mind. "Hey, kitten," Miguel said with a weak smile.

"Can we talk?"

Miguel's strained smile slid off his face. "…we probably should, yeah." He ushered Alois into his office and closed the door behind him.

Alois sat on Miguel's desk, waiting silently as the latter got himself a cup of fresh coffee. He half-raised it in Alois' direction, a silent offer of a mug of his own, but Alois shook his head. He wasn't big on the stuff. Miguel just shrugged and took a sip.

"Tell me this is nothing, Miguel," Alois said. "Tell me Watson doesn't actually have anything to go on."

"How could she? I'm clean."

"Then what are you so _worried_ about? Even if she thinks she knows… something - she can't prove a thing."

Miguel just drank his coffee for a long time before answering Alois. "I'm clean… in _this_ timeline. God knows what she's seen in other ones."

Alois rolled his eyes. "Proof from other timelines will only be about as damning as a Photoshop in this one."

"That's not the point," Miguel said, turning around so he wasn't facing Alois anymore, "the point is, if an alternate version of myself did something terrible, then that means that _I_ have the capacity to do something terrible."

"Ja? So does everyone, Miguel. Der Hund bellt und die Karawane geht vorüber."

"You don't understand."

"You're right," said Alois, "I don't. I don't even know what it is Watson is blackmailing you with. I don't even think _she_ knows what she's blackmailing you with."

"Ha," Miguel laughed quietly, "so I guess you could say I'm really just tormenting myself here, am I?"

Alois shrugged. "Möglicherweise."

"But… what if she _does_ have something? People have been executed over forged evidence before, you know, kitten. Like Joe Darke. We had to take a whole course on it at Themis. What's different here? She _can_ ruin my reputation, my career, all my relationships, and maybe even have me arrested - with 'evidence' she picked up in an alternate timeline. I'm sure of that."

"She has to find something first," Alois pointed out. "I think any version of you that _does_ do something that could ruin your life will be far too different from the real you- the you _here_ that it won't work as blackmail. It'd be like… threatening Tante Iris with something Tante Dahlia did. Schlechtes Beispiel, actually…"

"Nevermind," Miguel sighed.

There was a pregnant pause.

"You don't have to do this," Alois said.

"What?"

"You don't have to stick your neck out to protect Jana and I. We can handle ourselves, and the last thing we want to do is drag you into this as well. If you're scared - just walk away."

"I-I can't do that, kitten."

"You can," Alois said, gesturing as though he was inspecting his fingernails despite the fact that he was wearing gloves, "I've said it before, but… you never were the loyal type, and that's fine. Not everyone is. We can't all be Onkel Wright."

"Kitten," Alois said, obviously wounded.

Alois just looked at him sympathetically. "You have to look out for yourself sometimes, Miguel."

* * *

 _March 3, 5:25 PM, Criminal Affairs Department_

"So there weren't any holes in her glad rags," Detective Noir said, "although that means about dust."

"Can you pull the time of the 911 call for me?" Alois said, "and the time the initial photo of the crime scene was taken, too. Something's verdächtig with this case."

"Sure thing, bo." She walked off, almost colliding with Detective Grantaire on her way out the door. Detective Noir raised a lip at her in passing.

"Jourbon," Detective Grantaire said brightly to Alois.

"Guten Tag," said Alois, smiling disarmingly. "What brings you here?"

"Juste hanging around, m'sieur" she said, "I wasn't expecting to find M'sieur Le petit avocat de l'accusation here."

"I hope you aren't calling me something insulting to my face because I can't understand Französisch, Frau Privatdetektivin Grantaire."

"Ah, kéblo," Detective Grantaire laughed, "You know, m'sieur, this whole time I've been trying to get to talk to you, and you keep ignoring me comme un morceau de poubelle. It's vraiment frustrating."

Alois raised his eyebrows. "Sie Glückliche," he said, "it happens that I feel like talking today. Take a walk with me."

Detective Grantaire raised her eyebrows in turn. "D'accord, bien sûr."

They stepped outside, and part of Alois wondered if he was insane for doing this. Surely he couldn't expect Detective Grantaire to reveal her hand. And he himself, well, he wouldn't take this step if Maria hadn't returned to work yesterday.

They were a ways away from the CAD building when Alois said, "You can drop the act now, Frau. Who are you really?"

"Moi?" Detective Grantaire said, looking at him with wide eyes. "Who else could I be besides Anna Grantaire?"

"Airey Verkhovensky, for one. I'm sure there's others."

"Elle n'était quoi ma cousine!"

"She," said Alois, "was yourself from the future, wasn't she?"

Detective Grantaire fell silent.

"You're not even French, ja?"

"What makes you say that?" she said, her accent suddenly gone flat.

"You didn't correct my pronunciation of your name," Alois said, rolling his eyes. "You know what they say: 'The French don't care _what_ they do, actually, as long as they pronounce it properly.'"

Detective Grantaire laughed once, and it sounded very hollow.

"You were baiting me," she said.

Alois shrugged modestly. "You underestimated me. You underestimated all of us, tatsächlich. You didn't think anyone would notice your name?"

She snorted. "I figured if I got away with _Verkhovensky…_ "

" _Demons_ is obscure even for Dostoyevsky. _Les Misérables_ got a Broadway musical and a bunch of movies."

"Point taken," the detective said, shaking a cigarette out of her sleeve. "By the way, that's not how 'Les Misérables' is pronounced, schleu."

"So who are you really?"

"I wasn't lying when I said I worked for QLF, but I suppose that's not what you're asking." She lit the cigarette and took a drag. Alois coughed into his fist as she blew the smoke out her mouth, but he couldn't help but stare - smoking had been pretty out-of-style for the past couple decades, and he couldn't remember the last time he'd seen a smoker in person. He wasn't even sure it was legal to smoke in public.

"Ja, it's not what I'm asking."

The detective flicked away a bit of ash. "I was born in 1997, but I don't think I've aged much since I was 31. I was released from prison in 2028 and I've pretty much been time-traveling ever since."

"Time travel stops you from aging…?"

"If you do enough of it, yes. It's kind of strange, actually - at this point, I don't even remember how old I am. Nor do I know how old I'm going to _be_ when I come to Atlanta in 2052 and start calling myself 'Airey Verkhovensky'. It doesn't matter to me, though. It's not like I had a past, anyway. I don't expect a future."

"No past?" Alois said, frowning.

"None at all. Just the fact that I was a spy before QLF recruited me." She took another long drag of her cigarette. "I couldn't even remember what my own face and body looked like. In the end, I stripped off all my masks and prosthetics - and this is who I found."

 _Masks…_ , Alois thought. Her words were tugging at something in his memory. "You're… the Phantom, aren't you?"

She smiled at him, and there was no feeling behind it. "Yes," she said. "I am."

Alois' eyes widened, and he had to stop himself from taking a step back. "The same one behind Frau Cykes' mother and Herr Justice's best friend's deaths? And that convention that got bombed? And possibly Tante Iris' disappearance?"

"You know more about me than I would have expected."

"You ruined more than few lives of people I know…"

The Phantom just stared at him. "Are you surprised to find that the infamous Phantom was a woman all along? …nevermind, that doesn't matter. I will tell you, though, that QLF had nothing to do with Iris Wright's disappearance."

Alois narrowed his eyes at her. He had no reason to assume she'd tell the truth, and plenty of reason to believe she'd lie to him.

The Phantom just looked away from him after a second, and deadpanned, "it doesn't matter if you believe me or not. I'll be sticking around in this timeline for a little while, but my assignment to keep an eye on you and Miguel Fey-Armando was pulled in favor of the Avvakum Willems case."

"What did he have to do with QLF?" Alois said, jumping on the subject.

"You'll hear it in court tomorrow… from the murderer herself, although I doubt she realizes the significance of what she knows."

"That's all you have to tell me?"

She just shrugged, flicking away ash again. "I try not to give out information about a timeline's future. Incidentally, this is the first time in a long time that anyone's seen through my cover. Don't get the chance to talk about this stuff much, anyway."

"I see," said Alois. They continued walking in silence - uncomfortable on Alois' end, and emotionless on the Phantom's.

They had rounded the block and were almost back at the CAD when the Phantom said abruptly, "Tell me one thing - about my death."

"Was?"

"Was anyone with me when I died?"

"…no, I'm afraid not," Alois said, "you died alone, for nothing, in a dirty alleyway, murdered by someone who had nothing to do with you."

"I see," the Phantom said, and she sucked on her cigarette for a long while before saying, "there's one thing I do remember from my days before I was the Phantom."

Alois didn't respond, just waited for her to continue on her own.

"I was your age," she said, "when I was told that I was destined to die in the arms of a loved one. But if I died - if I will die - totally alone, then I guess that just proves something I've always suspected."

"The fortuneteller was a quack?" Alois guessed.

The Phantom dropped her cigarette butt, grinding it into the pavement with the heel of her boot. "No," she said, "there's no one left who loves me, and no one left whom I love."

* * *

 _March 4, 10:00 AM, District Court, Courtroom No. 8_

"Court is now in session for the trail of Eupraxia Fey. Mr. Gavin, your first witness, please."

"Actually, the defense approached me with a request before the start of this trial. As such, the prosecution calls the defendant, Eupraxia Fey, to the stand."

Jana set her jaw. This was a bit of a gamble - she had already told Eupraxia to keep her mouth shut about the whole 'possession' thing, but she wouldn't be surprised at all if Eupraxia elected to ignore her.

"Witness, name and occupation."

"Eupraxia Fey… spirit medium in training…"

Alois nodded curtly at Jana. She said, "Witness, can you please share with the court the nature of the injuries you sustained the night of the crime?"

"Sure," Eupraxia yawned, then lifted her arm, pulling back her sleeve to show the court the same bruises and scrapes she'd shown Jana and Maria at the detention center. "I skinned my knees, too."

"How did you get these injuries?" the Judge asked.

"I fell onto gravel…"

"Incidentally, we did run a forensic analysis of the gravel at the spot where the defendant was," Alois said, "and trace amounts _were_ found. Although it's not as though we needed more evidence placing the suspect at the scene of the crime…"

"Objection!" Jana snapped, "you have yet to prove that she was there at the time the crime took place. The defense proposes that these injuries were sustained at an entirely separate time - when my client had a narcoleptic episode and passed out in the karesansui-"

"Objection," Alois said lazily, "just because she sustained injuries when she fell does not mean she was actually _unconscious_ when she 'fell'."

"Regardless," Jana said, slapping the bench with her riding crop, "when one falls onto gravel hard enough to get cut, one would usually expect to see tears in their clothes, would you not?" She pulled out the set of pajamas she'd recovered from the Fey's laundry the day before. "These are the pajamas Maya Fey witnessed my client wearing the night of the crime." Maria held them up and Jana pointed at the holes in them with her riding crop.

"And I suppose you can prove that her pajamas were torn the night of the crime?" Alois said, rolling his eyes.

"…no, but-" Jana started.

"I'm afraid that that doesn't hold as evidence then, Ms. von Karma," the Judge said.

"Objection!" Jana yelled, "given that the defendant _was_ injured when she fell - regardless of if she was unconscious or not when she did so - the real question is whether or not the clothes she was _allegedly_ wearing when she fell have holes in them!"

"Mr. Gavin?" the Judge said.

Alois shook his head. "The channeling robes with the victim's blood on them are completely intact. However," he said, emphasizing the word, "the robes are much shorter than the pajamas. It's entirely possible that the parts of the defendant's body that were actually injured were not, in fact, covered by robes. If that was the case, it's a given that she could be cut by the gravel without tearing the robes."

"What is he going on about?" Jana muttered, "Eupraxia Fey had to lift the sleeve of her robe to show us the injuries on her arm. Of course the robes would have been cut."

"He's baiting us," Maria murmured, then said at a normal volume, "the defense would like to ask a favor of the defendant, and the court."

"We would?" Jana said at the same time the Judge said, "Yes?"

"An experiment, your Honor," Maria said, "we'd like to see our client re-enact the crime… wearing the clothes she supposedly wore during it."

"Hmm," said the Judge, "thoughts, Mr. Gavin?"

"I have no objections," Alois said with a charming smile.

The Judge nodded. "Very well. The court will take a five-minute recess as the defendant gets changed."

* * *

 _March 4, 10:30 AM, District Court, Defendant's Lobby No. 8_

"Alright," Jana said, pacing the room, "I get that Alois was leading up to this. I get that."

"But what is he doing?" Maria guessed Jana's next line.

"But what is he- yes, what is he doing?" Jana said impatiently. "Is this some kind of trap?"

Maria shrugged. "It's just as likely that he's come to the conclusion that Eupraxia is innocent and is just trying to exonerate her in his own way."

"Why not just rest, and drop charges? It is not as though the police turned up any _terribly_ compelling evidence, aside from Maya Fey's testimony."

"You know how things work in this state," Maria chided, "Eupraxia could get a guilty verdict based off of that testimony alone - unless we figure out who _really_ murdered Willems."

Jana rolled her eyes. She'd given barely a thought as to the identity of the 'real culprit'.

"That's what Alois is really trying to do," Maria said, ignoring Jana and looking at the painting on the will dispassionately. "He's simply luring you into helping him uncover the truth of this case."

"Childish," Jana scoffed.

* * *

 _March 4, 10:35 AM, District Court, Courtroom No. 8_

Court was back in session, and the bailiff paraded Eupraxia - now dressed in the bloodstained clothes from the murder - into the courtroom while whispers ran throughout the gallery.

It was _criminally_ short on her.

"Well," Alois said, directing his eyes toward the ceiling both because Eupraxia was struggling to keep the skirt covering her bum, and because of the blood on the robes, "I guess this proves my theory that the robes weren't ripped because they weren't _covering_ where she got hurt…"

"Acolyte robes are _not_ supposed to be this short," Maria said. "Your Honor, these robes clearly belong to someone much taller than the defendant."

"And much thinner," Jana said.

"No offense," Maria added.

"None taken," Eupraxia said.

"So you're telling me that the defendant put on someone else's clothes to commit the crime?" the Judge said.

"It does line up with Maya Fey's testimony, your Honor," Alois said before Jana could object, "the suspect changed out of her pajamas sometime between when she encountered her aunt and when she murdered Mr. Willems."

"Technically Mrs. Fey is the defendant's first cousin, once removed," the Judge said.

"Yes, of course, your Honor. Anyway, I doubt the defendant cared, at the time, that the robes she changed into were so… ill-fitting."

"And why would she change in the first place?" Jana demanded.

"Perhaps it was too hard to use her sleeve to cover her hand while holding the knife or throwing the rake while she was wearing her pajamas," Alois said, raising her eyebrows.

"Eupraxia, catch," Maria said, throwing her pen at Eupraxia. She fumbled it, but the bailiff picked it up off the floor for her and it handed it to her.

"Eupraxia Fey," Jana said, crossing her arms imperiously, "try to put your sleeve between your hand and the pen."

"Alright," Eupraxia said tired. And she tried to do just that for almost five full minutes, but the sleeve kept coming up short. She simply couldn't hold the pen without her fingertips brushing it - and when she finally got the sleeve where she wanted it - while the seam at the shoulder threatened to rip - her arm was awkwardly bent close to her torso, a position from which even an Olympic javelin thrower couldn't throw anything.

"As you can see, your Honor," Jana said smugly, "it is _impossible_ for my client to have not left fingerprints if this was the outfit she was wearing during the crime. Unless the prosecution somehow turned up some gloves somewhere?"

Alois recoiled, and Jana almost had to laugh at how theatrical it seemed now. "We found nothing of the sort, your Honor," he said.

"And of course, since she was still found on the crime scene, the defendant had no opportunity to hide or destroy any gloves," Jana said.

" _But_ she was still at the crime scene," Alois said.

"Eupraxia, please tell the court what you were doing at the crime scene," Maria said.

"I couldn't sleep, so I walked out there and-" Eupraxia stopped at Jana's murderous glare before she could say anything about possession or spirit channeling. "And then I don't (yawn) remember what happened next."

"A narcoleptic fit?" the Judge guessed.

"Naturally," Jana said before Eupraxia could speak.

"…it was around midnight," Eupraxia added.

"Midnight…" Alois said, "a full hour after the murder…"

"Ms. von Karma, are you proposing that the suspect was actually the first person to discover the body?" the Judge said, her eyes wide.

Jana nodded. "Here is how I believe it happened, your Honor," she said, "an hour after Avvakum Willems was murdered, Eupraxia Fey happened across the body and immediately passed out. The real killer then returned to the crime scene at some point after that, and changed Eupraxia Fey out into the clothes _she_ was wearing when she killed Avvakum Willems, then used the rake to remove all the footprints… thereby framing Eupraxia Fey."

There was a slight pause as the Judge mulled this over. "I wonder why Alois isn't asking why you think the murderer's female?" Maria whispered, "do you think he knows something we don't?"

Jana blinked. "Well, she was wearing channeling robes during the murder, was she not? It is reasonable to assume that she's a she…"

"Well," Alois said, "if our supposed first discoverer of the body was not, in fact, the first discoverer of the body, then I think we should revisit his testimony."

"You really think that's necessary, Mr. Gavin?" the Judge said, alarmed. "He's only eight. Being cross-examined _once_ was bad enough." She shot a disapproving look at Jana, who rolled her eyes.

"Actually, your Honor, yesterday he approached Detective Noir and told her that he didn't feel right about what he said in his testimony. I think it's worth hearing him out."

The Judge nodded reluctantly. "Very well… Miss Fey, you may return to the defendant's box."

"The prosecution calls Booker Fey to the stand."

Booker (and his orange crate) took the stand again, and, once the formalities were out of the way, Alois said, "Booker, yesterday you told us that you shooed a crow away from Mr. Willems' body. Did you really do that?"

"Yes," Booker said.

"And… how did you do this?"

"Huh?" Booker said. "I just walked up to it and waved my arms and said, 'Shoo, shoo!'"

There was a pause, then Booker frowned, confused. "I… I did," he said in a small voice.

"But there were no footprints at the crime scene," the Judge said, "how did you walk up to the crow and not leave any footprints?"

"He didn't," Alois said simply.

"But I-" Booker started, even more perplexed. Alois cut him off.

"He left footprints," he said. "Since it's impossible for him not to."

"…what?" Jana said, "where are you going with this, Alois?"

Alois just casually flipped a bit of hair out of his face, unconcerned that he was destroying his own case. "I asked the Prosecutorial Office's resident bird expert about it yesterday. You simply _can't_ shoo a crow or a raven away from its food from a distance, even if you throw something at it. If Booker got rid of the bird, he had to have walked into the karesansui to do so."

"Hmm," said the Judge, looking at Alois suspiciously, "Mr. Gavin, I hate to say it, but Isn't it possible that the witness is misremembering? He _is_ only eight. Maybe he only _thinks_ he shooed away the crow because he was so shocked."

"I… I don't know," Booker said, picking at a splinter in the railing of the witness stand. "I thought I…"

"That is a possibility, your Honor," Alois ceded with a slight tilt of his head, "which is why I'd like the witness to look at the photo of the crime his sister took."

Booker stared at him with an alarmed expression. "B-But I don't want see-"

"It's in black and white," Alois said gently, "trust me on this, it isn't nearly as scary-looking in black and white."

Booker hesitated, then nodded. Alois pulled out a picture of the crime scene - the same one that Detective Noir had handed Jana on day one - except this one was grayscale. Booker looked at it carefully for about a minute, then said, even more confused than ever, "it isn't the same."

"It isn't?" the Judge said.

"Y-Yeah, I'm sure of it…! When I saw it, there was footprints! I remember now!"

The whole gallery gasped, and the Judge had to bang her gavel a few times to calm them down.

"And so," Alois said, putting away the photograph, "the contradiction of the raven just flies away. Because, as we just heard… the footprints weren't actually raked out of the karesansui until _after_ Booker saw the body. That is to say - it wasn't until the crime had been discovered that the defendant realized she should cover her tracks, literally."

Maria reached over and pushed Jana's jaw closed from where it had been hanging open for the past several minutes.

"Wait," Jana said, "wait, wait- the footprints were raked away _after_ the crime was discovered?"

"I just proved as much, didn't I?" Alois said mildly.

"This proves nothing!"

"Actually, I think you'll find it proves that Eupraxia was awake the whole time," Alois said. "It proves that her narcoleptic episode was a sham." He chuckled. "Faking a fit to use it as an alibi for murder… haven't I read that somewhere? It even _worked_ , in the book…"

"Oh my," said the Judge. "I suppose that's that, then?"

"Objection!" Jana said, then took a deep breath, "Booker Fey, was the only difference you noticed between what you saw and the photo the prosecutor just showed you?"

"I…" said Booker hesitantly, "I don't really remem-"

"Think! Your sister could go to jail on a false charge because of you!" Jana barked.

"Ms. von Karma!" the Judge berated. "If you continue to speak to the witness with such a harsh tone of voice, I'll have no choice but to give you a penalty!"

"My apologies," Jana grumbled.

"Maybe," Maria said evenly, "this could be cleared up if we talk to the person who took the photograph Booker was just looking at."

"I agree," Alois said, smiling, "the prosecution calls Ilona Fey to the stand."

Ilona took the stand amongst mumbled speculation from the gallery. The Judge tapped her gavel a few times to clear it.

"Witness, name and occupation."

"Ilona Fey. I'm training to become a spirit medium, although I'm sixteenth down the line of succession for the role of Master."

"Hm," said the Judge, who was probably also just now hitting the realization that Pearl Fey and husband had way too many kids.

"So, witness," Alois said, "you were the one Booker got when he'd discovered Mr. Willems' body and needed to summon the police."

"Yeah."

"Can you describe this to us? Booker was… a little vague."

"I was up early, trying to get some chores done before breakfast," Ilona said with a shrug, "I was just walking down the hall when Booker ran up to me, crying about a dead guy, and we went to go call 911."

"And then?" Alois said.

"Then the operator told me to find a camera and take a picture of the crime scene. I left Booker on the phone, and went and did just that. It was the first I saw it… well, the only time, really. I didn't look again after the cops showed up, and I didn't touch anything, either. I just took a picture."

"Ms. von Karma, you may begin your cross-examination," the Judge said.

"How long did it take you to find a camera?" Jana asked.

"Mm, I couldn't find one in the end. I just took a picture on my cell phone."

"She searched for quite a while," Alois said nonchalantly, "the 911 call came in at 5:38 that morning. The metadata on that first photo of the crime scene says it was taken around 5:54."

Jana didn't miss the sharp glance Ilona gave him at those words.

"That is quite a while to be looking for a camera, considering there was a dead body right there," Jana said, doing the math in her head. Just over fifteen minutes. "And you had your cell phone on you, did you not?"

"I thought the police were gonna want a high-quality photo," Ilona said defensively. "I figured my cell phone camera was gonna be too grainy, but in the end it was better than nothing, wasn't it?"

"The photo you took _has_ been very useful to the investigation," Alois said with a self-satisfied smile.

"So what's the problem then?" Ilona said, aggression tinging her voice.

"There is no problem," Jana said, "except that you've admitted to being alone at the crime scene around the time when the real killer was raking it."

"I was _not_ at the crime scene!" Ilona said. "I was looking for a camera!"

"And clearly the defendant, while Ilona was searching for a camera, was setting up the scene just as she wanted it to look for the photograph," Alois said.

"But- is that not incredibly risky?" Jana argued, "if you were the murderer - and someone had just discovered the crime scene - why get up and spend all that time raking the rock garden when someone could arrive at any minute?"

"It's almost as though whoever were raking the karesansui knew _exactly_ when Ilona would show up with her cell phone camera," Maria said. Ilona glared at her.

"And why rake the karesansui in the first place?" Jana demanded.

"This was a murder done for the sake of the Fey's mysticism," Alois said with a shrug, "naturally the murderer wanted to make it seem almost like the gods themselves had killed-"

"-that is stupid. The murderer wanted to cover something up," Jana said, "something like… an extra pair of footprints leading away from the body… ones that didn't match up with Eupraxia Fey's position!"

"Do you really think that was what Booker saw?" Alois said.

The Judge shook her head. "If you asked him about that specifically, that would just be leading the witness."

"I don't know what Booker saw," Ilona said, "but I do know that when I arrived at the crime scene, there weren't any footprints."

"And another thing," Jana said irritably, "I find it unnatural that you would go to search for a camera _before_ looking at the crime scene."

"I'm a Fey," Ilona said dismissively, "death isn't something to gawk at for me."

Jana gritted her teeth. She knew Eupraxia was innocent, if only because she didn't think she had the aptitude for murder. And she knew that, if not Eupraxia, Ilona was really the only one it could have been, since she was the only with the opportunity to tamper with the evidence.

"She does look like she'd fit the robes worn during the murder," Maria said, almost to herself. That was true. She was thin and long-torsoed, whereas most of Eupraxia's meager height was in her legs.

"There is one thing I'm curious about, though," Alois said innocently. Jana shot a glare at him. She didn't trust him not to sink her case even further. "Witness, if you were searching so hard for a camera, why didn't you search in any of your siblings' rooms?"

"…what?" Ilona said.

"None of your siblings reported being woken until the police had already arrived. If you were searching for a camera, shouldn't you have looked in at _least_ one of their rooms? I know a few of your siblings really should have cameras on them. For instance, Amaryllis. Photography is her hobby. Why didn't you just go to her to ask to borrow her camera?"

"I… didn't wanna wake her," Ilona said evasively, giving Alois a heavy, wary look.

"There had just been a murder," Alois said, still smiling, but with serious eyes, "as Jana said… it's unnatural."

Ilona was silent for a long time. The silence was enough for Jana and Maria, though.

"Your Honor," Jana said, knowing they weren't going to get anywhere like this and deciding to throw the whole case on one last gamble, "Eupraxia Fey's pajamas have not yet been examined by forensics. They should be checked for Ilona Fey's fingerprints."

"Oh, big deal if my fingerprints are on my sister's clothing!" Ilona snapped, "even if it's not like I've ever borrowed them or anything, I probably touched them in the laundry room or something-"

"I was not done," Jana snapped back, then continued, "fingerprints can be covered by a sleeve for things like slitting throats and raking gravel, but they are not _gloves_. Covering your hand with your sleeve, you would not be able to do more delicate work… like unbuttoning a nightshirt."

"Oh," said the Judge, blinking.

"So you think the witness' fingerprints might be on the buttons?" Alois said.

Jana smirked. "If they are… then that would prove that Ilona Fey undressed my client. And that would mean…"

"…she was the one who tampered with the crime scene," Alois said, in a tone of voice indicated neither agreement nor disagreement.

"And it is reasonable to think that the person who tampered with the crime scene was also the person who committed the murder," Jana finished. Yes, she knew about the Adrian Andrews case, but in her experience, she'd found that to be an exceptional circumstance.

"Well, I suppose you're right," the Judge said, "very well, this court will now adjourn for-"

"Oh, why bother?" Ilona groaned, dragging her hands down her face. "Ha… I knew I hadn't accounted for everything."

The Judge gasped. So did a lot of people in the gallery. Jana was pretty sure she recognized the sound of a very distressed Pearl Fey.

"Is this a confession?" Alois said. He sounded almost bored.

Jana, on the other hand, felt like a shark who had just smelled blood in the water. "You murdered Avvakum Willems?" she said, leaning forward over the defense bench, "and you framed your own younger sister for it! How could you?"

Ilona scoffed. "I would have left her out of it if she hadn't been sleeping at the crime scene when I got there. It was just a case of wrong place, wrong time."

"Shows how much you care about your family," Alois said lightly.

Ilona banged her fist on the witness stand. "Why should I care about my family!" she screamed, her face suddenly turning red and her eyes burning. "How am I supposed to feel any love for my siblings when I've got so freakin' many of them that I can't remember who's who half the time!? How am I supposed to care for my parents when they forget my name because they're too damn busy with the younger kids!? I've been on my own since I was old enough to know not to stick my fingers in a socket!" She spat on the floor. "And don't even get me started on our _family responsibility_. I'm eighteen years old and I have no real-world skills because I've been training to be a spirit medium all my life. What's the point? It's like I have an actual shot at becoming Master or anything. I'm part of a branch family, for crying out loud! I've always been burdened by the Fey legacy, and there's no payoff for it!"

Everyone was staring at her. She brushed some strands of hair out of her eyes, breathing hard. "That's why I liked Mr. Willems so much," she snarled, "he came to Kurain Village one day, talking all sorts of crap about our spiritual powers. Everyone hated him, but I… I was intrigued. I actually asked him, why didn't he take us seriously? And he… he opened my eyes." She grinned. "He told us about a machine - an old machine - that rendered spirit channelling obsolete. 'Who needs to talk to the dead,' he said, 'when you can just talk to a version of them who's still alive?'"

"No, it can't be…" the Judge said quietly, her eyes going wide.

"That old comm bunker," Maria murmured.

"He showed me such wonderful things in that old comm bunker," Ilona said with a sigh, "but then… he picked one too many fights with Mystic Maya, and she had him thrown out. Oh, I begged him to stay. Apologize, if he had to. But he couldn't. So I asked him to take me with him. I didn't care where he'd go… I'd go anywhere with him. I wanted to see what else he could show me, and… _anything_ to get out of Kurain Village." She scowled deeply. "But he refused. I couldn't believe it… that one man could change my life like that, then just turn around an abandon me? Break my heart?"

She put one hand to her chest, and left out a short, wailing sigh. "Then, after I went to bed, I heard Eupraxia collapse in the hall just outside my room. By the time I opened the door, she was gone. But her knife was still there. And I took it as a sign."

"And you killed him," Jana said coldly.

"He deserved it."

" _No one_ deserves to be _murdered_ ," Jana growled, "and no one deserves to have prison hanging over their head for a crime they did not commit! You killed a man in cold blood, then almost got your own _sister_ found guilty for it! And you used your brother to do it!"

"Who cares?" Ilona laughed, "who cares if they're my siblings? All that means is that we have the same parents… the same blood in our veins…" She covered her face with her hands. Her shoulders shook. It was hard to tell if she was still laughing, or had started crying. "I don't care about any of that… how could I, when I've always been alone _because_ I have such a large family…? What's a family, anyway? None of them ever cared about me. I _hate_ my family. And I was almost… free…."

Ilona Fey was taken away, and the courtroom was left in silence. Faint weeping could be heard from the gallery, from a mother whose daughter had screamed her failures as a parent to the world.

"Well," said the Judge, clearly shaken. "If that's how it is… then I suppose I declare the defendant, Eupraxia Fey, **NOT GUILTY**."

Confetti fell. Jana and Alois gave each other a very long look.

'I'm glad you're my sister,' he mouthed at her. She nodded. Sometimes it felt like she and Alois and their parents were the only ones who were making it through life still loving each other. Still staying together.

* * *

 _March 4, 11:50 PM, Gavin Estate, Jana's Room_

The door opened. Teiwaz jumped up on Jana.

"Dumb cat," Jana mumbled, blearily pushing away the furry face in her own. "How did you get in here?"

"Jana?" Alois said, standing by her bed.

"What do you want?" Jana said, sitting up, rubbing her eyes with the heels of her hands. "It is late. I am trying to sleep." Teiwaz meowed loudly, and Jana started petting him to shut him up.

Alois pulled out his cell phone, and showed Jana a text he'd just received from Miguel.

 _i_ _m tired of only looking out for myself_

Jana narrowed her eyes at him. "I know," Alois said with a weak smile, "I shouldn't use suggestive psychology on my friends."

"But what about the blackmail…?"

* * *

 _March 4, 11:55 PM, Houzuki Discount Apartment Complex, Room #2812_

Watson Justice opened the door to her apartment quickly. She was hoping to catch the person who had just been standing there off-guard, but… they were gone.

"Huh," she said out loud. Maybe there hadn't been anyone. Maybe the deeper she was getting into this time-travel business, the more paranoid she was getting.

A note stuck to her door caught her glance as she was looking up and down the hall. She pulled it off, recognizing it as a page from Miguel's organizer - he'd left her a note like this once before. Only this time it said:

 _I'm not afraid of you._

She stared at those words for a long time, then smiled.

Last month, when she'd threatened to reveal Miguel's dirty little secret to the world, she'd been bluffing. Everyone knew Miguel was squeaky clean - how could that have _possibly_ been anything but a bluff? Yet here was, telling her he wasn't afraid of her. And that could only mean one thing.

He had a _reason_ to _be_ afraid.

* * *

 **So apparently Alois is a fan of My Fair Lady. And The Brothers Karamazov.**

 **And Miguel messed up big time.**

 **As strange as it is that I based the Phantom's character off of myself in a way, the thing she says about being told when she was seventeen about being destined to die in the arms of a loved one is something that actually happened to me.**

 **Keep an eye out for the next fic, Triple Turnabout! I should have it uploaded in the next few months, and it's guaranteed to be a wild ride. Additionally, keep an eye out for Sith's first Janaverse fic. I don't actually know what the title is, but I hear he's almost done with it!**

 **Translations:  
** **Herr (DE) Mr.  
** **Tatsächlich, (DE) Actually,  
** **Vielleicht (DE) Perhaps  
** **Danke, (DE) Thank you,  
** **Der Hund bellt und die Karawane geht vorüber. (DE) Let the world say what it will.** _ **literally, The dog barks and the caravan moves on.  
**_ **Möglicherweise. (DE) Possibly.  
** **Tante (DE) Aunt  
** **Schlechtes Beispiel, (DE) Bad example,  
** **Onkel (DE) Uncle  
** **verdächtig (DE) fishy  
** **Jourbon (FR) Hello** _ **verlan  
**_ **Guten Tag (DE) Good day/Hello  
** **Juste (FR) Just  
** **m'sieur (FR) mister** _ **shortening of monsieur  
**_ **M'sieur Le petit avocat de l'accusation (FR) Little Mr. Prosecutor  
** **Französisch (DE) French  
** **kéblo (FR) caught** _ **verlan  
**_ **comme un morceau de poubelle (FR) like a piece of garbage  
** **vraiment (FR) very/really  
** **Sie Glückliche, (DE) Lucky you,** _ **literally, Lucky mushroom  
**_ **D'accord, bien sûr. (FR) Okay, of course.  
** **Moi? (FR) Me?  
** **Elle n'était quoi ma cousine! (FR) She was only my cousin!  
** **schleu (FR)** _ **WWI-era slur against Germans  
**_ **Was? (DE) What?**


End file.
